Mallika Sherawat brings back our love for fake accents

Mallika Sherawat turned into a star overnight (on Twitter) all thanks to her controversial Variety interview at Cannes where she blatantly relayed incorrect statements she thinks to be true about India and that too in a rather funny accent.

Mini Mathur @minimathur directly attacked Mallika for her opinions. "How is Mallika Sherawat being allowed to be so STUPID? UGH," she tweeted.

Sandhya Mridul @sandymridul went a step ahead and called her a “stupid delusional cow” hashtag-highlighting Mallika’s oh-so-fake accented English -- #BATTUMOFTHEPILE

Other witty tweets that went around were:

@ClownPrinceG4m - Mallika Sherawat's accent joins a list of fakes she already has. When she talks, her accent is the most interesting thing. Not her words.

@jhunjhunwala29m - Mallika Sherawat says India is regressive & depressing. She’s right – How else do you explain this country tolerating her for so long?

Incorrect facts aside, Mallika’s thick accent is another legitimate point of scorn.

Why must Indians always desperately roll their R’s to suit the English-speaking world’s ears? What’s worse is that they seldom get it right.

Mallika’s current nemesis Priyanka Chopra too is a prominent member in this list of accent offenders. Her sudden Yankee twang caught the media by surprise at the 2009 Toronto film festival.

Madhuri Dixit’s famous fake-ccent post her American stint made her shift gears and go desi again. Bollywood biggies like Aishwarya Rai and Anil Kapoor have often been heard sounding a bit off on the accent game as well.

Why does the Indian film industry have to subscribe to fake accents so often? Are we uncomfortable in our shoes? Most of these stars sound perfectly global in their well-polished Indian accents and just as horrendous in their broken fake ones.

Is it time for Bollywood to learn and embrace its own unique identity? Or must we continue to strive to make ourselves “understandable” globally?